Vizio E321VL no signs of life.

[rasterdan]

I read through some of the other E321VL posts but this failure mode is slightly different. I have AC power going into the power supply but no DC power from the power supply. If I disconnect the cable going to the main board from the power supply, the standby 5.3V power can be measured on those pins labeled 5.3VDC but no 12VDC is ever measured.

I saw on a different model where you could jumper the power supply to kick it on for testing but did not see any jumpers labeled the same on my board.

I replaced the power supply thinking that I have AC going in but nothing coming out so it must be bad. Since there are only 2 boards basically, it must be the main board dragging the power supply down. I also disconnected the back light connectors and also attempted powering it up to see if the back light was bringing it down but no luck.

This TV failed after lightening struck 2 houses over. I took out my internet router/modem and a second router connected to the first one to extend my range. This TV was in my detached garage apartment and it is the only failure out there as a result of the lightening.

I don't want to just go order another board blindly if I can actually troubleshoot this one so I know for sure it is bad. I did not see any schematics in the manuals area either.

Ideas? Test points? I also heard if you hold the power button down for 20 seconds it resets the board, yeah right. Still no signs of life, not even the visio glowing orange, just black and dead.

Many thanks,
Dan V.

[budm]

Re: Vizio E321VL no signs of life.

How about upload good clear pictures of the board so we can see what we are dealing with.
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=39740

[rasterdan]

Re: Vizio E321VL no signs of life.

Sorry, I could not find my camera and my phone takes lousy photos. Attached are requested photos. The power supply is a replacement but both look identical and none of the caps appear to be blown. I know what they look like when bad. I have changed about 50 over the past few years fixing LCD monitors.

Thanks for having a look. I was hoping to find a way to measure something with my meter to confirm the bad board or jump something to kick start the power supply. I have an analog scope if that helps.

dv

[budm]

Re: Vizio E321VL no signs of life.

You may want to read this thread:
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showth...452#post477452

[rasterdan]

Re: Vizio E321VL no signs of life.

Had a read through that but ordered the main board because I needed to get this going. Well, no luck. ... or not much. Now I have replaced the power supply and the main video board. The Visio light flashes on for less than a second when power is applied to the power connector then goes off. No DC power can be measured.

I attempted disconnecting the cables one at a time with power off to see if I could identify a problem component dragging the system down but no change. I suppose it is possible that one of the boards that I received is defective. There is not much else in the entire TV box other than these two boards.

I have not pulled the big flat cable going from the top of the board to the display and measured each pin but why would that prevent the power supply from kicking on. I could see that making part of the display blank but not keeping the entire TV from powering on.

[rasterdan]

Re: Vizio E321VL no signs of life.

I have disconnected the IR cable. No change. I removed the IR board and it looks like new. Disconnecting the board but leaving the cable is of no advantage since the cable is off at the main board. Still only flashes the Visio for half a second then a click can be heard and nothing. No signs of life.

You would think that by unloading the backlight that might allow the system to power up. The only thing that I have noticed is that if I unplug the wire bundle going between the power supply and the main board from either end allows the 5.3VDC to come up. Never any 12v.

Any ideas? I don't have any ideas at this point. I would like a schematic or maybe talk to a Visio tech. They usually know the low down on their equipment.

[rasterdan]

Re: Vizio E321VL no signs of life.

Is it possible that one or both of the boards I received are bad in the same way as the one in my tv? How to tell? .... anybody?

[budm]

Re: Vizio E321VL no signs of life.

Give us the voltage readings on each pin that connector CN201 when TV is plugged in but nit turned on and when power switch is activated.
List the name of each pin with its reading.

[rasterdan]

Re: Vizio E321VL no signs of life.

Immediately after plugging in the power cord, the visio light goes to orange for about 200ms. So ... flash on then off. The meter jups up and doesn't have time to read the voltage because it is falling very fast. Within 60 seconds the meter reads 0.110VDC and a minute later was 0.090VDC.

If I remove the connector the power starts creeping up but if I unplug the tv and replug it back into the wall, then the power jumps back to 5.23VDC and remains steady.

I replaced the tuner board/mainboard and it does exactly the same thing as the original board. I unplugged the IR cable from the main board and this doesn't change anything either.

See attached photo.

[tibimakai]

Re: Vizio E321VL no signs of life.

Last time when I had a creeping up voltage on one of these/or similar Vizio TV, it was one of the capacitors in the power supply.
I believe Bud or Tom suggested, to look at the start up capacitor by heating it up and monitor the voltage.

[rasterdan]

Re: Vizio E321VL no signs of life.

Actually it is creeping down and not up. Is the start up cap the big electrolytic or is it a ceramic, one of the little guys by what are probably the regulators?

The thing that is bugging me is I bought a new set of boards just to have the exact problem with any combination of the boards. Maybe someone sent me a bad board with the same problem as the one i have. Not likely but I have certainly got bad boards our of our stock, had 3 in a row but they were all bad in the same way and pulled one off the production line and presto.

If you can look at the photos from the first post with photos and give me an idea what to heat and ... how hot to heat .. hair dryer? Heat gun? Lighter? Flame thrower! ) Sorry, got a bit carried away there.

[tibimakai]

Re: Vizio E321VL no signs of life.

I would place the probe, on the 5V pin in the connector and start heating(I use heatgun) those capacitors next to the yellow transformer and above the "vertical" heatsink.
I have worked on 37" models only. These may not be the same TVs.
On one of them I had a bad diode, which on yours is at the bottom right, in almost a 45 degree position.
Make sure that you are not heating things to much, because things like capacitor wrapping can melt.

[budm]

Re: Vizio E321VL no signs of life.

C105, C104.
Heat them with hair dryer, then apply power to TV, no need to turn it on since that is the standby power supply which is always on.
http://www.shopjimmy.com/media/catal...1010-front.jpg

It can also be that the main board is drawing too much current, you can also use 10 Ohms resistor to simulate the load to see if it can handle 1/2A load.

[rasterdan]

Re: Vizio E321VL no signs of life.

With everything connected and I heat the capacitors 104 and 104A on my board, 0.053VDC steady. When they cool back down the voltage jumps up and starts dropping. My meter starts registering at .5V and is quickly dropping and after a couple minutes 0.05v.

With a 10 ohm resistor, 5.20VDC and heating brings it up to 5.24VDC. I could not run this very long because my quarter watt resistor was getting hot. It was the only size that would fit in the connector and for a short test it was ok to get hot. I have plenty more.

[budm]

Re: Vizio E321VL no signs of life.

So if you let the board cool down and still have the 10 Ohms resistor connected (you can use two 20 Ohms in parallel), will you get steady 5V? It sounds to me those two caps should be replaced.

[rasterdan]

Re: Vizio E321VL no signs of life.

I pulled the two capacitors in question, both were 22um caps. My meter had one at 23.53um and the other at 23.69um. I went ahead and changed them for good measure but no change in the symptom. The power supply board will run with a resistor between 5.2V pin 1 and the middle ground pin. I ran it for 30 seconds and it ran perfectly with the resistor.

I did not have time today to go to the garage, get a couple 20ohm resistors to make a better load. But, 30 seconds or so to me would indicate the power supply board is ok. When connected to the main board, I get an unmeasurable spike of 5v then shut down.

I have 2 power supplies and 2 main boards. 1 set is original, the other set was purchased online. One from shop jimmy and the other from somewhere else. All combinations of these boards yield the same results. The 5v gets shut down the second power is applied to the board. I have attempted to rule out every possible external item like the video, the Ir board, the speakers, etc. by unplugging the cables connected to the main board with no change. Maybe something like the IR board fried something on the main board which is loading down the 5.2V. Then when I hooked up the new board, that board got cooked also?

So, bottom line, the 2 caps did not change the problem and the board seems to run with a 10ohm load.

More ideas??

[tibimakai]

Re: Vizio E321VL no signs of life.

Since you have purchased from shopjimmy, ask them what they say about this problem.

[budm]

Re: Vizio E321VL no signs of life.

The reason I have you test the power supply with resistor is to verify if the power supply can handle 0.5A load or not and it does, so power supply is OK, the main board must be drawing lots of current to cause the power supply to go into shutdown/restart mode.
You can also put DCA meter in series with the standby power supply wire to see how much current the main board is drawing.

[rasterdan]

Re: Vizio E321VL no signs of life.

I got my power supply from shopjimmy. The mainboard I got from someone else. I have contacted them for return. I have connected the power supply connection and nothing else to the main board as a test and it still over currents the power supply. It must be bad. With nothing else connected it loads the power supply.
I will look for another one or try to fix the original. I just wish I had a schematic or sams photo fact for this TV (if they still make them ... am I dating myself?)
Thanks for all your help, I will continue this thread as I get another part or find a way to troubleshoot this issue. I am pretty much old school for electronics component level repair. All these new fangled tiny surface mounted components put my bifocals to the test.
If you have any ideas for me to look into on the original main board, I would love to hear them. Remember, a lightening strike occurred a couple houses over which took this out. I immediately think power supply but not this time.
Thanks again,
dv

[PDMAN]

Re: Vizio E321VL no signs of life.

Schematics would be a big help. Can you get them?
Anyone?